There’s a funny feeling you get in Mexico City when you come back to a neighborhood you both remember and forget. Food here gets that way, too. “You know that one quesadilla joint, that one time, with the good salsa.”

Set up along Bucareli, just south of Reforma – two of the city center’s core arteries – only after dark, there is a steady huddle that gathers under a yellow tarp around steam and light bulbs.

There’s more to downtown D.F. than tourist attractions, however. It is the cultural, political and economic heart of the city and the country. Any item imaginable can be bought downtown. There’s the lighting district as well as one for appliances, clothing, electronics, printing and a long list of others. For generations, people have been going there to buy by the piece or wholesale to supply small businesses all over the country.